


Storms

by EzzyDean



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Gen, I really don't know what this is or what happened, i think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-03
Updated: 2014-04-03
Packaged: 2018-01-18 02:15:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1411219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EzzyDean/pseuds/EzzyDean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin always like storms but this particular one brings something different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I really had something entirely different planned out. A fluffy NagiRin something or other. And then this happened.

Warm wet air clung to his skin as he trudged up the steps to his apartment.  He had always liked stormy weather but the days leading up to them were filled with an uncertain pressure.  

The day hadn’t been all that long but the dreariness of the atmosphere both inside the building and out, had drained him.  An extra pair of shoes awaited him inside and he slipped off his, leaving both pairs in a jumble.  His socks were off before he made it to the kitchen doorway.  Work pants were traded for the sweats tossed on the couch.  He didn’t even bother looking for his hoodie.  The pair of shoes at the door told him where it would be.  In the bathroom he splashed his face with warm water.  He would prefer cool water but he needed to clean the stickiness of the day from him as best he could.  There would be time for an actual bath later.

Silence filled his apartment when he shut off the water.  He could hear the clock in the kitchen ticking and a tightness filled his chest.  So it was one of those visits.  The frequency of these visits had been increasing in the last couple months.  Finding a fairly clean t-shirt he headed to the bedroom.  The first visit had been a complete surprise.  Why the younger man would turn to him was a complete mystery.  Of all the people in his life to talk to when he was down he had made his way here.  It was strange, but the fact was he did and now here they were.  Rin flopped onto his bed with his usual grace avoiding the body leaning against it with a practiced twist of his hips.  His black ball cap sat upon a fluffy blonde head and the younger man nearly swam in Rin’s sweatshirt.  They didn’t speak.  After the first few times Nagisa had shown up, sullen and pale, and refused to say anything Rin had just given up.  Nagisa would talk when he was ready.

Instead he dropped his hand onto his shoulder, letting it slide into the hood of the sweatshirt and hang there.  Just letting Nagisa know he wasn’t alone.  Sometimes he would start playing with the blonde’s hair or gently tug at the back of the cap until it was askew.  It was just one way of showing Nagisa that whatever was wrong Rin was still around.  Rain finally started pattering at the window and he let out a sigh he didn’t know he had been holding in.  Maybe the tension in the air every time he stepped outside had finally broke.  A clench in his stomach reminded him he hadn’t eaten since this morning and he gave the hood a gentle tug before getting out of bed and making his way to the kitchen.  A quick look in his fridge confirmed what he already knew.  He had next to nothing for food.  Getting groceries hadn’t been high on his list of things to accomplish this week.  He found a container of leftover rice that didn’t seem too old and he warmed it up.  There was really nothing to put on it that wouldn’t require leaving the house or cooking more food so he just dumped it into a bowl and took it back to his room.  About half the bowl later he was full and set the bowl on the floor, nudging Nagisa’s knee with it.

The slight shift of the ball cap as he glanced down was a start.  Rin was glad that although he was showing up more often, it was taking less time to get him out of his shell.  It had taken nearly two days that first time he was here.  The only thing he responded to was Rin saying he was going to call one of the others and even then he would just take Rin’s phone away from him and sit back on the floor.  Rin wasn’t stupid and took the hint that this was something he only wanted Rin to see.  Thinking back that first time had been almost a year ago now, hadn’t it?  He laid back on the bed and dropped his hand onto Nagisa’s head.  Just one year and this little routine was already comfortable.  As comfortable as it could be knowing Nagisa was obviously hurting in some way.  A heavy weight had been attached to his eyelids and he felt them drifting shut as he listened to the rain.  There wasn’t any thunder or lightning yet.  That would come later.  For now there was just the relaxing beat of the rain hitting his window and the warmth of Nagisa’s hair beneath his fingers.  That was okay.  The real storm would come when Nagisa finally decided to come around and that was okay too.  He always liked storms.


	2. Chapter 2

Warmth that was almost suffocating settled in as he dreamed.  It was a colorless blur and he felt everything shifting like dry sand under his feet.  A hand reached out and wrapped around his arm and he sat up with a gasp, the peal of thunder still echoing in the room.  Nagisa’s fingers were digging into his arm and he settled back onto the bed.  The blonde had turned around at some point, probably to watch as Rin dozed, and had fallen asleep with his head resting on the bed.  Rin tossed the black cap onto his dresser and gently tugged Nagisa’s hair until he looked at him with bleary eyes.  Taking note of their positions, Rin on the bed and Nagisa kneeling beside it holding his arm, Nagisa’s eyes widened for a moment and he let go of Rin.  He scooted away from the bed and tugged the hood over his head, trying to hide the pale cheeks and reddened eyes from his friend.  Rin just rolled off the bed and grabbed the now empty bowl before heading into the kitchen.  

This was a new development.  Every time before Nagisa had just kind of snapped out of his mood, shrugging off Rin’s attempts to find out what the cause was, and hurried out the door.  Sending him a quick thank you via text or voice mail sometime the next day.  He had never actually just fallen asleep like that.  Thinking about it Rin couldn’t remember Nagisa ever actually sleeping when he was over during these moods.  He’d never actually eaten the food that was left out for him either.  Studying the empty bowl in his hands like it was a sacred text that would reveal what was going on in Nagisa’s head he never heard the younger man pad into the kitchen behind him.  Warm hands wrapped around his waist and he yelped as he tried not to drop the bowl onto the counter.  Taking a few steadying breaths he tried to peek over his shoulder at the younger man, but all he caught was a glimpse of the hood still pulled over the blonde hair.  A warm dampness seeped into the back of his t-shirt and he stilled for a moment.  Was Nagisa crying?  Just one more item to add to the list of weird things Nagisa had done today.

Trying to shuffle back to his room with Nagisa clinging to him like that was difficult and he nearly tripped over his own feet in the darkness a couple times.  But then they were back and he drug them over to the bed, taking care not to crash Nagisa’s knees into the edge when he crawled in.  He pulled up the covers around them and stared out the window, watching the lightning flash and light up the rain drops.  Soon the heat of the body pressed into his back and the arms still tight around his waist tempted him to give in to sleep once again.  The dream was the same shifting sea of sand and colorlessness.  But every once in awhile a flare of color would burst up and he would run towards it.  Never reaching it before it would fade away and another would pop up nearby.  He was growing sluggish and weary even in his dream and when his alarm went off he struggled to roll over and shut it off.  He found his hoodie crumpled on the floor and he glanced around the room expecting to see a blonde head somewhere.  

Instead he saw his phone on his dresser blinking.  Stretching he slipped off his bed and winced when he stepped in a puddle of water.  It was just in between his bed and dresser, as if someone had been standing there fresh out of the bath watching him sleep.  Except it was a muddy color and he grabbed a towel from his laundry basket and wiped up the mess, hoping it wouldn’t stain anything before he did the laundry.  Too groggy to really wonder why there was a muddy puddle of water on the floor he grabbed his phone and headed to the bathroom for a quick shower before work.  The phone clattered into the sink as the text messages’ contents caught up with his brain.  Noticing himself in the mirror he reached out and touched the cool surface in disbelief.  He hadn’t even realized his shirt was gone until just now and red marks stood out across his neck, chest, and from what he could see, back.  They looked like little puncture marks and scratches; some single and some in groups of two or three.  Glancing back down at his phone he reread the messages.

[Nagisa: Sorry for leaving so suddenly last night while you were in the kitchen.  Your hoodie should be on the couch.]

[Nagisa: Oh I think you might have left a window open last night or something.  When I left the whole living room smelled like seawater.]

A wave of dizziness hit him and he grabbed the sink for support whipping his head around when he heard a watery giggle from the doorway.


End file.
